ATI issues

[ChaosdaJoker]

Hey recently my friends computer has been throwing this error out.

ATI VPU recover Vpu recover has reset your graphics accelerater as it was no longer responding to graphics driver commands.

Other times it will just reboot on its own at random, or turn off completely and not restart, i have looked and looked for the problems that could be causing this, and ive read everything from, RAM to PSU causing the problems, to a dead GFX card itself,

The ATI card has the artic cooler installed and has been running fine for well over a year, this has only started happening in the last 2-4 weeks, and we really dont know whats causing it,

Has anyone else had or seen, or even know the cause of this.

Thanks

 

[FreeStream]

GPU temps? PSU rails ok?

If the PC crashes while not ingame then its most likely PSU.

 

[ChaosdaJoker]

Ill have to check the PSU rails, the GPU itself i dont think it reading the correct temp back, we ran GW in a window last night to see and the card reported that the temp didnt change at all, from desktop to 3d,

So we ran 3dmark and it crashed hard, the screen had lines all across it, you couldnt make out anything at all, even when we forced the system reboot the screen was messed up until the system actually rebooted.

My first thoughts where the PSU itself, like you said, but could this cause the card to crash like that????

 

[LanceCrossfire]

used to get this a lot when using my old 9600xt, it happens when the gpu crashed(usually in 3d mode), most likely caused by high temps, BUT when i formatted and reinstalled windows etc.... it worked fine:S

 

[El Jimben]

Could be a PSU issue but I think it sounds like a heat issue to me, I used to get that VPU recover error message a lot back in the day when I had a Radeon 9000 What card is he using and what temps were being reported?

 

[mikeo]

I would tend to agree that it sounds temp related. Try running something like the HL2 - lost coast stress test in a window with something like Everest home edition running to show all the temps etc.

 

[ChaosdaJoker]

The card is a x800XT PE

In windows it reports temps of 48C Idle, when we opened Guild Wars in a window for and it slowly creeped up to 60C before we closed it.

So we then opened 3dmark and within seconds it went black and all screwed up, we didnt even get to see a temp reading.


Ok Update:

We ran the Everest Home Edition, and in the debug video Bios, and the very bottom it sais.

C000:0080 113-A26105-103......R420.AGP.DDR3...RADEON X800 XT Platinum.....
C000:00C0 YOU HAVE NOT CONNECTED THE POWER CABLE TO YOUR VIDEO CARD.PLEASE
C000:0100 REFER TO THE 'GETTING STARTED GUIDE' FOR PROPER HARDWARE INSTAL

So looks like PSU maybe the cause.

 

[mikeo]

I know it's obvious but...

Only way to totally eliminate the card, is to try it in another machine.

As you're obviously finding out, you can fanny around for ages if it's not something that jumps out at you.

On the assumption that you've checked the obvious (Windows Event Viewer, Device Manager, uninstall/re-install g/cards drivers etc.). Also might be worth restoring Windows back 2-4 weeks (that being the time scale you mention) and seeing how the land lies, as you can obviously back the restore out if it does nothing.

Otherwise it's try and eliminate the hardware bit at a time. My suggestion would be to try and eliminate G/card, PSU, Memory ...in that order.

I suspect it's not what you want to hear. But PC's are great things when they are working but a great pain when they are not.

Good luck...